Vrdolyak Candidate Wants New Election

March 25, 1986|By Mark Eissman.

An attorney for Manuel Torres, the aldermanic candidate backed by Edward Vrdolyak in the crucial 26th Ward race, said Monday that last week`s election in the 26th Ward was improperly conducted and ``needs to be run over.``

The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners is scheduled to certify all the winners of last week`s election, including the winners of special aldermanic elections in the 26th and in 6 other wards, at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

However, attorneys for Torres, who trails Luis Gutierrez by 20 votes in the latest 26th Ward tally, asked Judge Eugene Wachowski of Cook County Circuit Court Monday to prohibit the election board from certifying a winner in that ward.

At stake in the dispute, in addition to the ambitions of the two men, is control of the divided Chicago City Council.

Vrdolyak, alderman of the 10th Ward and Torres` most powerful backer, is leader of the majority bloc in the council. Gutierrez is backed by Mayor Harold Washington who controls the council minority bloc.

Monday, Joseph Tighe, attorney for Torres, told Judge Wachowski that the election night decision by another Cook County judge to allow some polling places in the 26th Ward to stay open for two hours beyond the normal 7 p.m. closing time was a serious mistake.

Tighe said keeping the polling places open late ``irretrievably and fundamentally flawed and tainted this election.`` The election ``needs to be run over,`` Tighe said.

On election night, Judge Joseph Schneider had received a request from lawyers for Mayor Washington to keep five polling places in the 26th Ward open longer than usual because the lawyers said those polling places did not open at the proper time of 6 a.m.

Judge Schneider granted that request.

In response, a short time later on election night, lawyers aligned with Vrdolyak asked Judge Schneider to allow five other polling places in the ward to stay open late because those polling places, too, allegedly failed to open at the proper time in the morning.

Vrdolyak`s lawyers asked the judge that night to order that all ballots cast in the 10 late-closing precincts be kept separate from the main body of ballots. The judge agreed, but the order to separate the ballots was ignored or never received at some of the precincts, and the number of ballots cast after 7 p.m. will probably never be known.

Monday, Tighe, representing Torres, argued that Judge Schneider never had sufficient evidence to order any polling places to stay open late. Tighe asked Judge Wachowski to find that Judge Schneider had made a mistake. (The day after the election, Judge Schneider went on a previously scheduled vacation.) Tighe said that the five polling places that Gutierrez-backers contended opened an hour or more after the proper hour of 6 a.m., in fact opened on time. Tighe submitted five affidavits from people who said the polling places opened on time.

Gutierrez` lawyer, Thomas Johnson, presented 14 affidavits directly contradicting Tighe`s affidavits. The people in Johnson`s affidavits said the original five polling places in the dispute opened at least an hour late.

Judge Wachowski scheduled a new hearing for 9 a.m. Tuesday and said he wanted to hear testimony from the people who signed the affidavits for both sides. Wachowski said the only way he would issue a temporary restraining order prohibiting the election board from certifying a winner in the 26th Ward would be if it became clear that Judge Schneider had been given fraudulent evidence on election night when he was asked to keep some polling places open in that ward past the legal closing time.

If attorneys for Torres wished to argue any other issues, Judge Wachowski said they would have to take their case to the Illinois Appellate Court.